Reviews

I mainly got started on reading this book because I wanted to read the source material before reading Demon Copperhead and found it to be quite an odyssey to get through it. This book is long!! It's breezy and unexpectedly funny, there were several moments that had me laughing out loud. But it still took me much longer than I expected to finish it. I ended up reading the last 8% with a dual audiobook/ebook approach and a part of me wishes I had read the whole book that way because the narrator did really good accents. I really liked the way there were character threads that wove in very long stitches throughout this story, where a hint was dropped and you wouldn't see a character for hundreds of pages, and then back they'd pop. And I also have always relished Dickens' skill with names. I really knew nothing about this story before reading this, and yet somehow could tell who the villains were just by their names. The foreshadowing also was just lovely, there were many details that I could see coming but not in a way that I found tedious, because the payoff when it actually played out was so good. A LONG book but a good one. Very excited to get started on Demon Copperhead now too!!

toni123's review against another edition

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relaxing medium-paced

4.0

theag7's review against another edition

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5.0

It was so long o.o But worth it? Yes indeed! I already loved Dickens due to A Tale of Two Cities (plus the somewhat fictionalized account of him and his genius from the film The Man Who Invented Christmas), but the humor and character creation of DC was even better and highly interesting since the stories of this book recount bits of the author's own growing-up.

gabudell's review against another edition

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5.0

A truly beautiful book!

This was the first Dickens I’ve read (excluding the compulsory reading of A Christmas Carol for GCSE English). Originally, I was put off by the size of the novel but if not for it’s length I feel the emotional impact that was to come towards the end of the novel would’ve been lost - (I was so happy to see the union of Agnes and David - I was a fan of their relationship from the start, even when it was just a friendship).

Dickens has such a way with words that he somehow managed to even make me feel emotional at the death of Dora (who I found increasingly irritable throughout). But my favourite part of the novel, by far, was the eccentric charters - from the sinister Uriah Heep to humorous Micawbers - and how wholesome of a story it was. All the characters managed to create a special place in my heart (minus Dora and Heep) but special mentions go to Mr Peggotty and Betsey Trotwood. Huge found-family vibes throughout.

I would highly recommend :)

knewberr's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

cristinabia's review against another edition

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inspiring

5.0

bocker_enligt_angelica's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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